Most people spent yesterday embracing their families and being thankful for their bounty, both material and spiritual. As residents push back from their Thanksgiving tables, and hit the streets and the stores on the annual hunt for Christmas presents, we would like to submit a list of what we, as a paper, are thankful for.

We are thankful for:

A community that so tangibly demonstrates its caring for both neighbors and faraway friends through giving. From the hundreds of boxes prepared for Operation Christmas Child and the piles of toys collected by Shriners, deputies, Marines and more, to meals provided by churches and civic groups, Newberry County shows its generous love to those less fortunate.

We are thankful for:

Voters who are willing to consider every seven years adding a penny to dollar’s purchase to invest in their county, whether it be in a new library or ballfield. Each time those same voters pore over the list of projects for a capital sales tax referendum, they show how much they care about where they live and enriching both themselves and others.

We are thankful for:

Those who step up, and that our county has such a deep well of talented and interested citizens to pull from when either the going gets tough, or there is a need for creative and concerned leadership.

Whether it is for zoning appeals, voting commissions or interim posts like the one recently filled in Prosperity for police chief, our county has the good fortune to have residents who answer the call when needed.

We are thankful for:

Innovators and risk-takers that invest their hopes and dollars in our county through businesses as big as an expanded Louis Rich or Komatsu to the small undertakings, no less so to those taking the risks, such as Main Street businesses and country road farms with inventive plans like growing organic or developing a winery.

We are thankful for:

Readers who line up at our drive-through box or come into our lobby looking for the latest information, those who subscribe to our Web site and our delivery service. Readers who look for The Observer each Monday, Wednesday and Friday, calling us with concerns, praise, questions and story ideas. Readers who show us each week how much and how deeply you care, about the community we live in and our place in being a window and a translator into where we are.